Late Nights
by AA Battery
Summary: Will and Allan's friendship over seasons 1 and 2. Allan has nightmares. Rating for a curse. Spoilers if you haven't seen S2.


Hello! This is a short oneshot that spans over season 1 and 2 so if you haven't seen 2, you might want to stay clear!

will/allan friendship (more if you so desire)

Hope you like it!

Disclaimer: If I owned it, there would be no pigeon scene. There would be no pigeons. There might not even be a Djaq.

**Late Nights**

Will had always been a light sleeper- and to be honest, sleeping in the woods hadn't been the easiest transition. He was used to certain noises- the creak of his bed as he turned, the soft snore of Luke coming from the other side of the room, the movement as his parents- and later, just his father, woke up first. He wasn't used to the constant blowing of leaves, or the chirps of birds in the morning, or even the crackle of a fire at night. He was either up late tossing and turning when he wasn't exhausted, or snapping awake even when he was exhausted.

He thought no one saw him jerk awake at different points during the night since everyone, apart from Much and Robin, was still cautiously far apart from one another, still strangers thrown together in an odd twist that happened too quickly for anyone to follow. John was on the outskirts to avoid being stepped on, Roy was on the same side and closer to the fire. Robin and Much slept side by side across from Roy and Will was usually given a good fire spot as well. Allan was across from him, curled into a ball and propped up, sleeping easily through the night.

At least that's what Will had assumed. Then, about two weeks into their new "gang," as he popped awake at some noise he didn't even remember, a soft lilting voice had carried across the camp:

"Geez, you're a bit jumpy when you sleep." No need to ask who it was- only Allan could be that friendly and mocking at the same time. Will blinked and half propped himself up to look over at the man across from him.

"Yeah," he admitted a bit sheepishly, a little embarrassed about being caught. Allan nodded, but didn't close his eyes, just looked away. Will squirmed- he liked Allan- but they were… different. Allan was loud and natural with people in a way that Will knew he never could be. Will shrugged a bit and then lay back down to attempt to go back to sleep. But now he was wide awake and the noises seemed louder than they had before.

"Nothing's gonna get you," Allan announced and Will flinched. He must look like an idiot. He glared over and Allan's grin met him. "Promise."

"I know," he muttered, annoyed at Allan for making fun of him and annoyed at himself for deserving it.

"They'd go for Much," Allan continued. "Got the most meat on him and easiest to take down. They can smell out the weakest, you know?"

Will felt a smile pulling on his lips.

"One time, I was out with these guys and one of them was this big, fat fellow- right outta the city too- and stupid. When the wolves attacked, they went right for him- like moths to a flame. Took a few bites and then they were gone- think they knew he could use to loose a few handfuls. Since he was so much skinnier, he found a lass next town we visited and is still there, happily married last I heard."

"That's ridiculous," Will said. He couldn't see Allan all that well, but he knew enough to guess that the other man was probably gapping at him in shock.

"It's true!" Allan insisted and Will rolled his eyes even though they were sliding shut again.

"Is not," he replied drowsily and sensed Allan shake his head.

"Go back to sleep, Will- if you're not gonna believe my stories, I'm not gonna tell them." Will meant to inform the man that he should just tell ones that were true but fell asleep before he could form the words.

* * *

It wasn't long before Will realized that Allan was always awake when he was and now that Allan knew Will knew, he never failed to have some far-fetched tale to tell or obnoxious advice to give or a snide remark on one of the others to gleefully inform Will. So did Will believe that Allan knew a two-headed dog, or that if you rubbed tree sap on your chest girls would be more attracted to you, or that Much's voice broke 13 times in one day? No, of course not. But that didn't stop him from listening and when they made a new camp and Allan picked a tree that was right next to Will's spot, Will smiled to himself and nodded at Allan's grumbled:

"No use shouting across the fire."

* * *

Of course, eventually, Will stopped jumping at every noise, or maybe they were just working too hard for him to wake up anymore and so the late night conversations were lost to a more important thing- sleep. But it didn't seem to matter much because at that point Will and Allan were partners for most things. So conversations that were once held in the middle of the night could now be held whilst hunting, or waiting for Robin to give them the signal, or even when running from the guards- Allan could always find time to talk and Will was more than happy to listen.

So for a moment, Will was completely confused as to why he was snapping awake in the middle of the night. His hand flew to the axe at his waist before he realized that Robin wasn't ordering them awake and there was no clank of armor around him. Rather, it was just the labored breathing of the man next to him that had startled him awake.

Allan's head, usually so unnaturally still in sleep, was rolling side to side as sweat glistened on his forehead in the dim firelight. He wasn't mumbling or talking- instead he was biting down on his lip as if to keep from making any noise at all. Will stared for a moment- not used to seeing Allan look so… vulnerable before hesitantly whispering:

"Allan?" The only sign that Allan had heard was that his head swung away from Will's voice. Will frowned to himself and slowly reached out a hand, meaning to shake is friend awake.

He didn't get that far. The merest touch had Allan flinching away and gasping as he woke up, arm lifting to cover his face. For a moment his eyes were wide with panic and fear and Will jerked back, surprised himself, and held up his hands.

"Hey, it's okay," he tried, heart beating fast from the shock. "Allan? It's me, Will."

He saw Allan recognize him as the man closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. Will opened his mouth and then realized he had no idea what to say so he closed it again, just watching his friend. Allan didn't take long to calm down at all and then he was sitting back up and closing his eyes.

"Weird dream," he half-mumbled and didn't say anything more. Will lay back and frowned into the darkness for a while before finally falling back asleep.

* * *

Will woke up a few nights later to the sound of someone stumbling out of camp. Immediately seeing that Allan was missing, he followed the sounds until he found his friend on his hands and knees throwing up in a small clearing.

"Allan!" he gasped, rushing forward to help only to stop as Allan turned to glare at him with an intensity Will had never seen his friend use before.

"Go away, Will," Allan growled, coughing up something.

"You're sick," Will countered. "Let me go get Djaq."

"Will!" Allan snarled. "Do not get Djaq. I'm not sick."

Will hesitated. "But-"

"Just go back to sleep." It was then that Will recognized the lingering fear in Allan's eyes and the way his hair was damp with sweat. He opened his mouth to ask and then didn't because Allan had just grunted a curse and was throwing up again.

"Go to sleep, Will," Allan growled when he could and Will turned and fled.

* * *

Maybe because he was looking out for it now, but Will started to wake up more and more easily when Allan was having a nightmare. Allan was usually eerily silent, the slight extra movement of his head or the twitching of his legs the only sign he was trapped in a dream. He would wake up and then gently wake up Allan up who would get himself under control amazingly quickly and say nothing about it besides a brief dismissal. The next day they would act as if nothing had happened.

Once after a particularly bad week, Allan moved his stuff to the opposite side of camp. Will simply picked his stuff up and followed. Allan glared at him and Will glared right back and Allan never tried to move again.

* * *

After Tom, Allan had another "throw up" dream as Will called them. Will followed him into the woods and this time when Allan told him to leave, Will simply shook his head.

"You can't do anything," Allan snapped at him and Will shrugged even though it was true. He couldn't do anything to stop it, but when his friend was done, Will sat next to him silently and then helped him get back to camp without tripping over shaky legs. And then the next morning, when Djaq mentioned she had noticed them both gone, Will told her that they had just felt like walking and because it was Will, she believed him.

* * *

"What are they about?" Will finally asked as he and Allan were sitting side by side one night.

Allan stiffened beside him, but Will continued to look out at the fire and their sleeping gang-mates as if he had asked nothing out of the ordinary.

"Nothing," Allan told him and Will turned his head to raise an eyebrow at his friend.

"None of your business," Allan growled angrily at him.

"No it's not," Will agreed easily, but he didn't withdraw the question and he didn't take his eyes off Allan's. Allan squirmed for a moment before sighing.

"I don't know," he supplied. "A lot of stuff I guess."

Will nodded as if that was enough because he knew that pressuring Allan any further would be a bad idea. The question was still there- ready to be answered with Allan was ready to answer.

* * *

"My dad was a real jackass," Allan muttered after Will woke him up a week later. Will had nodded and then rolled over and pretended to be asleep.

* * *

The rest of the answer followed slowly, in small bits and pieces that Will collected and treasured simply because they were part of his best friend. Some of them shocked Will and others saddened him and some made him so mad he wanted to go out and find every person who had ever hurt his friend and make them pay.

One night Will found himself being shaken awake and groggily blinked up at Allan's worried face.

"Is something wrong?" he mumbled, still half asleep.

"No," Allan said, putting a hand on Will's shoulder to keep him from sitting up. But Will didn't miss the quaver in his voice as he continued: "Just making sure you're still alive."

Allan had given him a last pat and Will decided that that was the only answer that mattered.

* * *

He had worked hard throughout the summer- on their new hidden camp and on the multitude of traps that Robin wanted and maybe he had slept through a couple of Allan's nightmares. But Allan never said anything and he and Djaq started to stay up late talking and gradually he forgot. Or he assumed Allan was sleeping okay.

And then Allan had left and Will didn't care about how Allan was sleeping anyway because the man was a stupid traitor and he didn't care about traitors- he hated traitors.

* * *

Even though he was on the opposite side of camp now, curled next to Djaq, he had begun to wake up again when Allan was having nightmares, which was often. He was annoyed at his body for continuing to have this reaction- Allan had saved them, yes, but he had still left and Will shouldn't be waking up whenever the man began to breath a little bit too quickly. So he kept his arms firmly around Djaq's and closed his eyes and tried to ignore the muted thrashing of the man across the fire.

* * *

He woke up with a start and Allan was gone and Will knew instantly where he was- what he was doing. Djaq woke up next to him, blinking groggily.

"Is something wrong?" she mumbled and he shook his head savagely to convince himself as well as her and replied:

"No, nothing."

* * *

He shifted again, glad that Djaq had rolled away sometime in the night and wasn't going to wake up because this was stupid. It had been over a month since they returned and surely his body should realize by now that he didn't care about Allan. But here he was- lying awake, eyes continuing to drift to his struggling friend. He chewed on his lip for a minute before deciding that he deserved some sleep.

Standing up, he moved over a panting Allan and nudged him with his toe, sending the man gasping and flinching awake. For a moment, Will's heart tugged with the familiarity of that and when Allan's eyes looked up at Will's with unabashed hope in them, Will's chest constricted just a little.

But that was stupid so he threw down a harsh "You were waking everyone up." and walked back to his spot, not looking back at Allan's soft "Oh."

* * *

He woke him up with his hand instead of his toe the next time but didn't say a word and headed right to back to his bed where he belonged- with Djaq. Away from Allan.

And it continued like that for a time- Will tersely waking up Allan, not because he cared about his friend, but because he wanted to go to sleep. And when Allan stumbled out for the clearing, Will didn't follow and nevermind that he couldn't fall back asleep until Allan had returned to his spot, because they weren't friends anymore. And Will didn't miss it at all.

* * *

One week, Allan stumbled away from camp three nights in a row and on the fourth, Will told himself Allan might actually be sick and spread it to the rest of them and untangled himself from Djaq and followed.

When he arrived, Allan was already done, leaning against a tree, quivering slightly in the cold. Will frowned for a moment- when had Allan lost so much weight? Then he stepped forward because his legs wanted to, even if his head didn't. Allan looked up and him and then bowed his head and stared at his legs.

"Sorry to wake you," Allan offered. "Thought I was far enough away." Allan's voice was rough with disuse and Will felt guilt stab him in the stomach. Maybe Allan deserved a lot but… suddenly he couldn't be sure Allan deserved this. He continued forward and slide down to sit next to his friend, feeling Allan's sharp intake of breath next to him. They were silent for a long time, but instead of getting himself under control, Allan's breaths were coming more out of control as time passed.

"I'm sorry," Allan muttered again, trying to take a deep breath and failing. "Will- I… I didn't mean- I didn't think-" Allan's breathing was more and more out of control and Will suddenly didn't need to hear the rest. He put an arm over Allan's shoulder and rubbed the back of the man's neck.

"Allan, relax," he said softly. "I know you didn't. Just breath, okay?" Allan obeyed and for a moment neither said anything.

"I'm sorry too," Will said after Allan was calmer. Allan's eyes shot to him in surprise, but Will just smiled softly and stood up, reaching out a hand for Allan to grab onto. Allan hesitantly accepted and they walked back to camp like they used to.

* * *

A few days later, they had a longer talk in daylight and that night Will lay awake thinking, even though Allan slept soundly across from camp.

The next week, Will moved his stuff back over to Allan's and when Djaq complained it was uncomfortable over there and didn't follow him, he found he didn't care as much as he thought he would.

A few weeks later, Allan woke him in the middle of the night with a smile and asked him if he wanted to go for a swim and he smiled and said yes.

End.

Hope you enjoyed it! Reviews are always welcome!


End file.
